Swarm

Garos circled a thousand meters overhead, his draconic eyes fixed on the Rock-Crushing Worm below.

Through the Life Level Detection Technique, Garos had already confirmed that the Rock-Crushing Worm was a Level 7 lifeform, the same level as himself.

The Life Level Detection Technique was a Spell-like Ability he had awakened a year ago.

Dragons were apex magical creatures and natural sorcerers. As they grew older, they naturally mastered many bloodline-derived arts.

Such arts differed from spells. Their power and effects were weaker, but they could be cast instantly, and were therefore called Spell-like Abilities.

The Life Level Detection Technique was one of them.

Under normal circumstances, Hatchling Dragons were not yet old enough to awaken and master Spell-like Abilities.

Thanks to Adaptive Evolution, it was not only Garos's physique that had developed rapidly; he had also mastered some Spell-like Abilities ahead of time.

"At the same level as me, I should be able to take it down safely."

Life Level was only a reference. Many creatures could fight above their level, and dragons were among the best at it. Garos was cautious and steady by nature. For now, he did not intend to hunt creatures above his level and instead chose the Rock-Crushing Worm of the same level as his target.

Garos restrained his Dragon Might, beat his wings with the smallest possible movements, and gradually approached his target from above.

Rock-Crushing Worms sensed the location of living creatures through vibrations.

A breeze swept past. The Rock-Crushing Worm, which had been basking in the sun, suddenly lifted its head in Vigilance. Its two nearly invisible, mung-bean-sized eyes blinked.

Powerful ferocious beasts and magical creatures were everywhere in the Wilderness, along with hunting parties formed by intelligent clans.

Hunting and being hunted were the eternal, unchanging theme here.

The Rock-Crushing Worm was a powerful hunter, but that did not mean it could not become prey.

A hundred meters in the air.

The instant he saw the Rock-Crushing Worm react strangely, Garos narrowed his eyes. His wingspan of over twelve meters abruptly spread wide, then beat fiercely, carrying a howling gale.

The Hatchling Dragon became a black-and-red meteor. As he dove, the edges of his wing membranes sliced through the air, nearly striking sparks.

By the time the Rock-Crushing Worm reacted, the dragon's shadow had already covered its body.

Without slowing in the slightest, Garos plunged to the ground with immense force, using his own body as a weapon as he smashed into the Rock-Crushing Worm.

The instant its iron-hard carapace came into contact with Garos's body.

Under the tremendous impact, the black shell Shattered like an eggshell, while the flesh beneath was directly pulverized into mush.

Boom! With earth-shaking force like an earthquake, the rock slab broke apart into countless stones that rose amid swirling dust.

The Rock-Crushing Worm was a ferocious beast considered relatively formidable even among Level 7 lifeforms.

Yet when it was struck by the Hatchling Dragon's falling impact, its body was split directly into two from the middle.

As some of the Buffer Scales on Garos's body fell away, he suffered almost no damage from the fall.

Wooooo!

In unbearable pain, the Rock-Crushing Worm let out a roar like a gale passing through a canyon.

Insectoid lifeforms were tenacious. It did not die. Instead, as if in a final burst of vitality, it erupted with tremendous strength. Its upper body rolled about furiously, flinging the Hatchling Dragon toward sharp stone spikes.

The stone spikes failed to pierce the dragon scales and were instead crushed to pieces.

The Buffer Scales on his back absorbed the force of impact the instant they struck the rocks, then produced a rebounding force.

Garos shot toward the Rock-Crushing Worm again at even greater speed.

At this point, the Rock-Crushing Worm wanted to flee. The sharp teeth in its mouthparts spun as they gnawed through the ground, and nearly half its body had already drilled underground.

Even with only its upper body remaining.

With the Rock-Crushing Worm's regenerative abilities, it could gradually recover completely.

Sensing the vibrations caused by the dragon's body rubbing against the air, the carapace of the Rock-Crushing Worm's exposed body suddenly swelled. High-temperature, high-pressure steam blasted from the gaps.

The smell of sulfur rushed straight into his nostrils.

This steam carried both fire and water damage. It was the Rock-Crushing Worm's life-saving skill, and its power was considerable.

Garos closed his eyes and charged straight through, relying on his formidable physique to pass through the billowing steam. With one claw, he tore open the carapace again and plunged it into the Rock-Crushing Worm's flesh.

Whoosh!

His powerful wings beat, lifting his body into the air. He dragged the Rock-Crushing Worm's upper half completely out of the ground, then swung its body in a full arc and smashed it against the surrounding rocks again and again.

The repeated bang bang bang of impacts continued for several seconds.

With a sweep of his dragon wings, he dispersed the surrounding dust.

Garos released his claws. The Rock-Crushing Worm no longer made a sound. Much of its carapace had shattered, and its mangled flesh was a horrifying sight.

"I used too much force."

"It seems a Rock-Crushing Worm of the same level can't resist my strength at all."

Garos clenched and unclenched his dragon claws, feeling the pain in his body rapidly fade as he silently thought.

The fire damage from the Rock-Crushing Worm's final blast of high-temperature steam had been largely ignored by Garos. As for the water damage, it should have caused him some trouble, but because he had adapted through targeted training, the minor injuries it caused were insignificant.

"My efforts to train in water despite my aversion to it were effective."

"Though I can't measure it precisely, my resistance to water damage has definitely improved."

He turned to look at the worm's corpse.

Garos walked over and used his claws to peel away its carapace, revealing the flesh within.

In contrast to its savage appearance, the Rock-Crushing Worm's meat was tender and pale, looking quite appetizing. Its texture and flavor were excellent as well—cool, smooth, and sweet, almost like vanilla ice cream.

Not long later, after enjoying the delicacy he had gained from the hunt.

Garos looked around, his gaze sweeping over the abandoned mine pit.

Jagged rocks covered the area. A ring of steep, dangerous rock formations surrounded the mine pit, while within lay an uneven square region filled with collapsed or abandoned mining tunnels.

Beating his wings, the Hatchling Dragon descended to the bottom of the mine pit.

Garos half-closed his eyes and quietly sensed the earth beneath him. Before long, he detected a faint pull.

"There are still some remaining mineral veins underground."

He pondered this inwardly.

There were many abandoned mining sites like this in the Ser Wilderness, but few had been mined so thoroughly that not even a trace remained. Most retained at least some mineral veins.

His gaze swept across the surrounding mine tunnels again as Garos considered that this seemed like a decent place to settle.

Not far from this abandoned mine pit was a woodland with a lake, and quite a few creatures similar to Grey Hyenas lived there.

Water, prey, mineral resources.

With those elements, it counted as a good location.

"Once I leave the Iron Dragon Mother, I can claim this place as my dragon lair first, then make other plans."

Garos thought.

All of a sudden.

The ground began to tremble slightly.

Garos's gaze sharpened. He beat his wings and shot into the sky with a whoosh, vanishing from where he had stood.

Boom!

The rocky ground where he had just been standing shattered like fragile glass in an instant. An enormous black shadow burst from the earth, launching itself hundreds of meters into the air before falling back down.

His taut nerves eased slightly.

Garos let out a breath and looked down below.

In his field of vision was an enormous Rock-Crushing Worm, a full hundred meters long, coiled at the bottom of the abandoned mine pit. Its carapace gleamed with an icy metallic luster beneath the sunlight, radiating an overwhelming pressure.

Crack, crack, crack!

Amid teeth-grating sounds, the ground continuously broke apart as one Rock-Crushing Worm after another burrowed out of the earth.

They were densely packed and numerous, their bodies rubbing and twisting around one another in a chilling sight.

"There's a swarm of Rock-Crushing Worms, and a Worm King among them."

"This place is not meant for me for now."

"It seems finding a suitable territory to settle in won't be easy."

The Hatchling Dragon inwardly lamented his misfortune. Dodging the Acid Rain the Rock-Crushing Worm King sprayed toward him, he flew ever higher and left this place.